Your Guide to GW sports

Xavier tennis coach praises ‘classy’ GW squad

Senior Ugur Atalay prepares for his opponent to serve the ball during a match against Georgetown last year. Hatchet File Photo

The A-10 men’s tennis championship came down to the No. 2 singles match Sunday, pitting Colonials senior Ugur Atalay against Xavier sophomore Mesa Mei for the point that would earn their team the league title.

After Mei took the first set, he was sidelined by an injury that prevented him from playing to his full strength. Unwilling to quit on his team, the Musketeers sophomore played through the pain, but it hampered his performance and he dropped the next two sets to to Atalay.

“The atmosphere was set for a special finish to this year’s tournament, but Mesa just physically could not be at his best. That happens sometimes in college tennis and Mesa did the best he could to finish. I give Ugar Atalay credit for the way he executed to finish the match, but more importantly how he conducted himself in a tricky situation. He has been a class act in his four years at GW and today was no exception,” Toth said in a news release. “I also congratulate [Colonials head coach Greg] Munoz and the rest of his squad on another championship, but mostly for the class he and his guys showed in winning the match, ideally not the way they would want to clinch a championship. They were classy. Kudos to them.”

Ave Tucker, a longtime supporter of the GW School of Business, turned his support of GW towards the athletic department with a $1 million donation in October, in part to enhance one of the country’s best college baseball facilities.

Though teams like Saint Louis may have more experience than the youth-laden Colonials, there’s a lot of parity in the tournament teams and the squad seems to buy into the belief that they have what it takes to win.

Seniors Madison Davis and Mackenize Jones each signed two-year contracts last December with Teach for America, a national organization that assigns recent college graduates to two-year teaching positions where they work with students often in inner-city schools.

Athletic director Patrick Nero said that his department will continue to grow because the athletic department can do something that others can’t: Bring in outside revenue to cover the cuts and keep growing.